父母外出打工对留守儿童的学业成绩的影响-基于性别差异的视角

伴随着大规模的“打工潮”而来的农村“留守儿童”群体数量迅速增长,已成为严重制约我国巩固提高义务教育水平,推进义务教育均衡发展的瓶颈之一。针对面临的“留守儿童”严峻的现实问题,本研究基于“中国西部地区基础教育发展项目”监测与评价调查数据,运用倍差估计方法,分析了父母外出打工及返乡对农村留守儿童学习成绩的影响。研究发现,（父母）外出打工者的性别对子女成绩的影响存在明显的差异。父亲外出打工对留守儿童学习成绩并无显著影响,而母亲外出打工会对留守儿童学习成绩产生显著的负效应。对于留守儿童而言,相对于父亲监护类型,母亲监护更有利于儿童的学业成绩。此外,父母外出打工之后是否遐乡并不会显著的提高留守子女的成绩,这是因为父母外出打工对留守子女学习成绩的影响同时存在“收入效应”和“教养缺失效应”的双重作用,打工带来的家庭经济状况好转在很大程度上弥补了父母养育角色缺失所导致的社会化过程不完整的不利影响。     

留守儿童更信任他人吗?来自实验经济学的证据

文章采用经典的信任博弈框架,用实验经济学方法比较城市儿童、农村留守儿童和农村非留守儿童的信任行为。实验结果发现,农村留守儿童对他人的信任水平显著高于城市儿童,而农村留守儿童和非留守儿童的信任水平没有显著差异。在控制了性别、民族、兄弟姐妹数量等人口学特征后,农村身份对儿童的信任水平有显著正向影响,父母双方外出务工、一方外出务工对信任水平均无显著影响。从被信任度来看,三组儿童中,城市儿童被信任度最低,农村留守儿童被信任度最高,但考虑人口学特征后,农村身份、留守身份均不影响被信任度。结合儿童在利他实验中的表现,文章还发现在利他行为中表现为无私型的儿童比平等型和恶意型有更高的信任水平。研究结果表明与同年龄城市儿童相比,农村儿童而不仅是农村留守儿童更信任他人。     

撤点并校政策、父母外出务工与我国农村地区儿童辍学

基于中国健康与营养调查（CHNS）数据,采用DID方法研究了撤点并校政策和父母外出务工对我国农村地区儿童辍学的影响。实证分析结果表明：撤点并校政策显著降低了农村地区儿童辍学的概率;母亲外出务工对儿童辍学有显著的负面影响,而父亲外出务工和父母均外出务工却对儿童辍学影响不大。此外,父母受教育程度越高、家庭人均收入越多的农村地区儿童越不容易辍学;家庭规模越大和家庭拥有土地越多的儿童辍学的可能性越高。我国农村地区儿童的教育问题仍值得关注,政府应积极采取相应措施降低农村地区儿童辍学率。     

这里的孩子不再孤单

培养照顾好130万农村留守儿童,解除外出务工群众后顾之忧,政府,学校,家长,社会多方联动,切实解决好农民外出务工带来的农村留守儿童问题,新增农村寄宿制学校400所,建立针对留守儿童特点的培养模式,采取代理家长,亲情室,托管中心等措施.     

相对收入对外出务工的影响:来自中国农村的证据

验证相对收入对外出务工的影响是对已有劳动力流动影响因素研究的重要补充,也有助于全面认识小范围内收入不平等的经济影响。本文使用农业部大样本定点调查数据,验证了两种常用的相对贫困指标对是否外出务工、外出务工人数比例和外出务工时间的影响,从验证内容、指标设计和计量方法等方面改进了已有的对中国农村相关问题的研究。研究发现:村内的相对贫困状态对外出务工产生了全面且显著的影响。在满足基本的外出所需资金之后,相对收入地位较低的家庭会倾向于外出务工。本研究还发现:通过外出务工,中国农村小范围内的收入不平等现象得到一定程度的改善。     

留守儿童社会心理支持路径的研究——以都匀市归兰乡潘硐村为例

目前,我国正处于社会转型,经济迅速发展时期,各类社会问题层出不穷,儿童作为国家的未来,其身心发展受到许多因素的影响,社会支持是其中重要的因素之一。然而,对农村留守儿童而言,由于其父母外出务工,社会支持系统因亲子分离而遭到了破坏,使得父母这一重要的社会支持来源一直都处于丧失或基本丧失状态。近年来,随着政府对困境儿童的重视,在2015年的《政府工作报告》中李克强总理提出了要关爱留守儿童,建立未成年人社会保护制度。各地陆续开启了针对困境儿童社会支持救助保护的探索之路。本文主要以贵州省都匀市归兰水族乡潘硐村的留守儿童为主要观察对象。     

全国农村"留守儿童"已超两千万

在20日国际儿童日当天,记者从全国少工委获悉,随着我国农村劳动力的大量流动,因父母双方或一方外出务工而形成的农村特殊的少年儿童群体--“留守少年儿童“数量已达2000多万.……     

农村留守儿童家庭教育基本缺失的问题及对策

留守儿童作为一个特殊的儿童群体,他们的父母外出务工、经商．把他们留在原住地入学接受教育,由于长期得不到父母亲面对面的教育和关爱,留守儿童的家庭教育基本缺失了。农村留守儿童在家庭教育基本缺失的条件下,在学业成绩、心理素质、道德品质及身体发育方面出现的不良问题,必须引起高度重视并加以研究和解决。     

为留守儿童建立“快乐家园”的研究

浦口区星甸街道石村村地处偏远的农村地区,经济发展相对落后,农村青壮年外出务工人数众多,留守儿童较多。文章提出近几年,浦口区石桥成教中心结合区域特点,和相关部门联手建立了留守儿童"快乐家园",为确保留守儿童的健康成长,进行了有益的尝试。     

农村留守妇女角色冲突及角色调适研究

现代城市化发展使得大量农村男性劳动力外出务工,加之我国特有的城乡"二元结构"所形成的城乡分割状况,使得农村"留守妇女"这一特殊群体随之形成。本文通过阐述留守妇女承担多重角色与面临的角色冲突,以及自身主动、被动的调适,了解农村"留守妇女"生活现状,发现多重角色冲突对该群体造成的不利影响。     

Solution or isolation: Is boarding school a good solution for left-behind children in rural China?

In recent decades, rural China has experienced a rapid increase in boarding school enrollment rates and in the population of left-behind children (LBC) (i.e., rural children whose parents migrate to urban areas for work). LBC tend to be worse off in numerous dimensions. At 61 million, China has the world's largest population of LBC. As it provides a different residential environment, boarding school can potentially exacerbate or mitigate the negative effects of parental migration. Using nationally representative data on Chinese families, we estimate the impact of parental migration and boarding school on child outcomes in cognition and physical and mental health. We find that while boarding school has no effect on LBC physical and mental health, it substantially improves performance on achievement tests for both LBC and non-LBC. Policies aimed at improving boarding school conditions in China, may improve not only cognitive outcomes, but also child physical and mental well-being.     

Identifying the effects of migration on parental health: Evidence from left-behind elders in China

This study pioneers the application of the New Economics of Labor Migration theory to outline and estimate two opposite effects of labor loss driven by the migration and remittances of adult children on the health of left-behind elderly parents through the changing rural market constraints. We use China's rural household survey data and simultaneous equation econometric techniques to estimate the effects of migration on the physical and mental health of left-behind elders. Results indicate that the loss of labor due to migration has a significantly negative effect on the health of left-behind elders, but remittances from migrants can compensate for the adverse effect. This study provides a comprehensive understanding that remittances from migration relax the constraints on household resource allocations in undeveloped rural areas with imperfect market conditions. Overall, left-behind elderly parents benefit from migrant children both physically and mentally.     

No longer left-behind: The impact of return migrant parents on children's performance

Using data from a rural household survey in China in 2009, we examine the impact of parental migration on children's educational outcomes. Consistent with the findings of a large empirical literature, we find that parental migration has a significantly negative impact on left-behind children's educational outcomes as measured by test scores in Chinese and math. But unlike much of the existing studies on the subject, we focus on the remediation effect of return migrant parents on once left-behind children's performance. This empirical strategy allows us to avoid the endogeneity issue concerning the migration decision that may have contaminated previous studies. We find evidence that return migrant parents help alleviate the harms caused by parental migration, and the remediation effect is stronger for children attending middle schools, and stronger for daughters. We also find suggestive evidence that return migrant parents improve children's performance through increases in after-school study time and education-related expenditures, following the return of migrant parents.     

Parental migration,educational achievement,and mental health of junior high school students in rural China

China's rapid development has led to an unprecedented increase in migration rates as an ever-growing number of rural residents migrate to urban areas to seek better job opportunities and help alleviate family poverty. Economic pressures and structural restrictions force many of these migrant workers to leave their children behind in their rural homes, which has led to the emergence and expansion of a new subpopulation in China: left-behind children (LBCs). This study examines the impacts of parental migration on the educational outcomes (specifically math achievement) and mental health (specifically anxiety) of LBCs using data covering 7495 children in a prefecture of Shaanxi Province (from three surveys conducted between 2012 and 2014). We distinguish between “both parents migrating,” “one parent migrating,” “only a father migrating,” and “only a mother migrating.” We also explore the impacts on male versus female LBCs. We find no significant impact of parental migration on the math achievement of LBCs. In terms of mental health, however, our results indicate that left-behind girls were negatively affected by one parent migrating, especially if the migrating parent was the father. The findings suggest that it may not be necessary for policy makers to design special programs to improve educational outcomes of LBCs in general. However, local committees, schools, and parents should pay particular attention to left-behind girls living with only one parent, as they may be more vulnerable to mental health problems than their peers.     

留守儿童的竞争偏好:基于自我竞争的视角

儿童的竞争偏好是一种重要的非认知能力,对儿童早期人力资本形成至关重要。已有研究发现,在社会竞争（与他人竞争）情境中,留守儿童和非留守儿童存在竞争偏好差异。文章基于实地实验,从自我竞争的视角进一步探讨留守儿童的竞争偏好。结果表明：在自我竞争情境中,留守儿童和非留守儿童之间无论是在竞争偏好方面,还是在为自己设定任务目标方面,都没有显著差异。这意味着,父母缺席主要影响儿童的社会竞争态度,对儿童挑战自我或自我提升的意愿影响并不显著。在不涉及社会交往的竞争时,留守儿童和非留守儿童一样具有较高的进取心。     

When left-behind children become adults and parents: The long-term human capital consequences of parental absence in China

This study examines the long-term effects of childhood left-behind experience on human capital outcomes across two generations in China. Using data from the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), we find evidence that adults with left-behind experience in early life have fewer schooling years, lower cognitive test scores, a lower Big Five personality traits index, but a higher internal locus of control. Meanwhile, they are more likely to report underweight, chronic diseases, depression, and lower levels of perceived health and happiness. Our findings of the negative consequences on personality traits and health outcomes are robust to a battery of specification and validity tests. These effects also differ markedly by adults' gender, birth cohort, hukou status, and the characteristics of left-behind experience (i.e., type, timing, and duration). Further, our results also suggest a potential intergenerational transmission mechanism in which human capital loss is induced by one's early-life exposure to parental absence. Specifically, one's childhood left-behind experience is also inversely associated with their offspring's outcomes such as Big Five noncognitive skills, birth weight, and height-for-age z-score. Although adults with left-behind experience are inclined to spend more time with offspring compared with their non-left-behind counterparts, they also tend to have significantly poorer household socioeconomic outcomes and less offspring educational investment.     

The health of left-behind children in rural China

Child health is not only a key indicator of overall quality of public health, but also vital for the future economic development of a country. In recent years, with unprecedented urbanization of China, many children in rural areas have been left behind while their parents migrate to urban areas to seek employment opportunities. Thus, it is considerably important for us to understand the effects of lack of parental care on the health status of left-behind children. Using data from China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS), we find that the left-behind children in rural areas are significantly 20.0% more likely to get sick or develop chronic conditions than those living with their parents. We also find that girls are more vulnerable than boys and younger children are more vulnerable than older children to lack of parental care.     

Leave behind or migrate? Evidence from a field experiment in China concerning the impact of being left behind/migrating status on children's behaviour and preferences

With the great economic and social development achieved in China in the past 40 years of reform and opening up has come the extensive flow of China's very large rural labour force between urban and rural areas and among regions, as well as populations of left-behind children and migrant children who cannot be ignored. In this paper, four populations—non-left-behind children in rural areas, left-behind children in rural areas, migrant children in urban areas, and local children in urban areas—were recruited in a large-scale field experiment that included the dictator game, ultimatum game, trust game, public goods game, coin-tossing task, intertemporal choice task, a calculation contest task, and a gambling task. Both being left behind and migrating had a negative effect on the children's prosocial behaviour (including fairness, trust, trustworthiness, cooperation, and honesty) and economic decision-making (including time and competition preferences). Moreover, the effect on migrant children was relatively greater, but this effect dissipated progressively as time since migration increased. Additionally, shorter migration distances were associated with a decreased effect of migration on migrant children, and having access to one parent had a positive effect on left-behind children.     

留守儿童的公平感与幸福度:来自实地实验与调查的依据

文章利用实地实验与调查相结合的方法,研究父母双方均外出的留守儿童与非留守儿童在公平感和幸福度上的差异。根据儿童在独裁者游戏、最后通牒游戏和问卷调查中的结果,我们发现两类儿童对优势和弱势不公平的厌恶方面不存在显著差异,但留守儿童主观汇报的幸福度显著低于非留守儿童。机制探究显示父母陪伴缺失是导致留守儿童幸福度较低的原因。若将留守儿童的定义扩大至父母一方在外务工者,以上差异均消失,说明双留守儿童是我们更应关注的群体。文章研究对补充现有留守儿童行为研究以及相应公共政策均具有重要的启示意义。     

Does parental migration impede the development of the cooperative preferences in their left-behind children? Evidence from a large-scale field experiment in China

In human capital theory, noncognitive abilities play an essential role in individual and societal success. Parents' migration for work purposes may inhibit the development of children's noncognitive abilities, but its influence on children's cooperation preferences remains unclear. Using three one-shot public goods games, we examine the impacts of parental migration on the development of children's cooperation preferences and whether introducing punishment mechanisms could partly exacerbate or offset the effects. We conducted a large-scale field experiment with more than 1600 rural students aged 6–16. Our main findings are as follows. First, the cooperation level of non-left-behind children increases significantly with age, while being left behind may affect this stable development track. Specifically, we find that paternal migration significantly decreases children's cooperation levels, while maternal or both parents' migration does not. Second, punishment mechanisms can significantly promote children's cooperation levels and offset the negative effect of paternal migration. Exogenous punishments work across ages, while endogenous punishments work only among middle school students. However, as the extent to which children were left-behind deepens, the offsetting effects of the punishment mechanisms gradually weaken.